Phenotype of thymocytes from T cell restricted A238L transgenic mice.

<p>A) Surface phenotype of thymic cell suspensions of control littermates (left), Tg A238L (middle) and Tg mut A238L mice (right). Cells were stained with antibodies specific for CD4-PE, CD8-APC and CD69-FITC cell surface markers. Results are presented as CD4 versus CD8 (A) and the indicated CD4⁺CD8⁺ cells were then examined for CD69 expression (B, presented as CD4 versus CD69, and graphs E and F). The same cells were also stained with CD4-PE, CD8-APC, CD25-CyChr and CD44-FITC, and the expression of CD25 and CD44 on CD4CD8 double positive cells was determined (C, presented as CD25 versus CD44). The analysis was also performed for splenic and lymph node cell suspensions and the same results were obtained (not shown). The reduced expression of CD3-APC and TCRαβ-Alexa488 on T cell restricted A238L transgenic mouse thymocytes was demonstrated by staining with antibodies specific for CD3 and TCRαβ (D, presented as CD3 versus TCRαβ, graphs E and F). The results are for groups of 5 mice per genotype and are representative of at least three independent experiments.